


Uriah

by Dorksidefiker



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: F/M, creepy old guy being seriously creepy, ephebohilia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-06
Updated: 2013-02-06
Packaged: 2017-11-28 09:47:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/673028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dorksidefiker/pseuds/Dorksidefiker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if the Tsar Lunar never expected the Shadow Prison to hold?  What if it was just an attempt to get Kozmotis Pitchiner out of the way?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Uriah

_We could have avoided all this,_ the Tsar Lunar thought with genuine sorrow as he signed the order, _if you could have just seen sense._ He might as well have been signing Kozmotis's death warrant, but it wasn't as though he could really do _that_. Kozmotis Pitchiner was loyal, a hero of the war, and much beloved by the men who served under him. He deserved so much better than what the Tsar planned for him.

Someday, people would look back on the Shadow Prison and realize that it could never have held. Not for long. You couldn't imprison _Fear_ ; all his wisest advisers had told him so repeatedly. They didn't understand why he _needed_ the prison so badly. No one did, and he doubted that anyone ever would.

Officially, the assignment was a great honor, a sign of how much the Tsar trusted Kozmotis Pitchiner; who better than the Golden General to keep the darkness locked away forever?

It would be a great shame when the Fearlings inevitably broke free and slaughtered him. The Tsar planned to call for a day of mourning when it happened, possibly even an Imperial holiday in his honor.

It only made sense; by then Seraphina Pitchiner would be Tsarina, and it would be disrespectful not to honor her father's sacrifice.

A warm breeze carried the sound of laughter through the Tsar's open window, drawing him inexorably away from from his desk. His office window offered him a perfect view of the Palace gardens, stretching far into the distance. The butterfly garden lay closest, and that was where his eyes were drawn.

Seraphina loved the butterfly garden most of all; the Tsar had spent many an hour watching her play there, fascinated with the insects and the flowers that drew them. She was a singular beauty, with shining black hair and skin as pale and flawless as the finest silk. She moved with a dancer's grace, kicking off her shoes as she danced through the flowers. It made the Tsar's heart ache to watch her and not be able to _have_ her; he'd yet to successfully dislodge his wife, and Seraphina herself was too young yet to give her consent so long as her father lived.

Kozmotis was out in the garden with Seraphina, listening patiently as she told him everything he had missed at court while he was protecting the Empire.

The Tsar had been subtle on his first approach, hinting that it might be best for Seraphina of Kozmotis found her a husband... an older man obviously, to better guide her through her life, a man of power...

The fool had insisted that Seraphina was too young for him to even consider it -- "She's only thirteen, barely out of the nursery!" -- and would hear no more about it. And he had laughed.

That idiot. That blind, stupid creature. Kozmotis had barely been there! The Tsar had been the one to watch Seraphina mature, from the moment her mother had died and she had been put in the Tsarina's care. She was _no_ child, whatever Kozmotis might think, and the Tsar would not be kept from the woman he desired.

The Tsar turned sharply away from the window, summoning a page. "See that this gets to General Pitchiner immediately."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sometimes, Tsar Lunar wondered if the whole universe conspired against him. He rid himself of that troublesome General only to have _his_ last request before leaving be that the beautiful Seraphina be sent back to the family estate so that she could better learn how to manage it! The sheer gall of that man! He would lock the brightest jewel of the empire away in the back of beyond, and there was nothing the Tsar could do without drawing suspicion down on him.

And then, as if part of some great conspiracy, his wife had the audacity to become pregnant! Thirty years he'd been shackled to the woman, and only _now_ did she have a child?

It would have been one thing to put her aside as barren; the Tsar had a duty to see his line continue... but a child would complicate things.

The Tsar waited, and he plotted, and he longed for nothing more than to march on the Pitchiners' distant villa and rescue his Seraphina from her solitude. But he could wait, if he had to. There could be no shadow of scandal when he finally had her.

He was almost ready to rid himself of his wife once and for all when the news came.

The Shadow Prison had fallen. The Fearlings were free, sweeping across the empire like a tsunami... and at their head was Kozmotis Pitchiner, now calling himself the Nightmare King.


End file.
